Tell Toyota what you look for in a car and see what MNers thought of their Hybrid range! £200 voucher to be won NOW CLOSED

You may have recently seen that 7 Mumsnetters attended an event day at Toyota HQ all about hybrid cars. Now, Toyota have asked us to find out what other Mumsnetters look for in a car.

Toyota say, “Toyota have been making hybrid cars for over 12 years and have sold over 2.4 million Prius Hybrid models to date, but there are still many myths surrounding this technology, like do hybrids need special fuel? (No!) Does a hybrid save me road tax? (Yes!) How does it feel to drive a hybrid?”

Below is a video of the event day. Please watch it and let us know your thoughts. (To read the feedback of Mumsnetters who attended the day please click here.)

Mumsnetters who attended the event commented on different aspects of Toyota hybrids including cost effectiveness, technical features found in the cars and its spaciousness. How do these rank for you when purchasing a car? What other optional extras do you look for? A feature that’ll park the car itself, perhaps? Or maybe car seat heating? Whatever it is, we’d love to hear about it!

Everyone who adds their thoughts to this thread will be entered into a prize draw to win a £200 Love2Shop voucher.

Got a 4 year old Prius T4 and now replacing it through work with an Auris Tourer Hybrid - can't wait! My Prius has been great for the last four years and I look forward to a bit more space in the boot for the next car.

I first look at petrol/diesel consumption, then look for reliability and space needed for the family. Style is important and I've got to like the windows. My present car has arm-rests which I couldn't do without in my next car.One of the most important things for me is that the seats are soft and comfortable. I also prefer an automatic, especially for driving around town.I prefer conservative colours and therefore wouldn't consider a red or yellow car, even though it is safer and can be easily seen. Black is hard to see at night but I might consider as it may not need washing often!

I would LOVE a car which parked itself! My dream car would have heated seats, built in sat nav, plenty of storage, parking sensors (front and back), fold down seats (which could also be half down if i wanted) Any car i have must be 5 door so the children can get in and out easily. Childlock is a bonus for when i have young children in the car. A good sound system is nice, i love listening to music. Good heaters is a must! My car heaters take ages to heat up which isn't good on a cold day! I would like a car which is cheap to run eg; fuel, tax, insurance. I dont know about hybrid or electric cars as i have never tried them but i would be interested to take them for a test drive to see how i get on. The one thing i really would not want it to have is magnified mirrors! My car has them and Vauxhall claim its a safety features but it drives me mad (excuse the pun ) and makes it near impossible for me to drive! Last but not least the colour and style play a big part! I like my car to look nice, smart and a little sexy! It doesn't have to be sleek but it has to look good!

Seats that will fit three child car seats across the backBig bootHard wearing upholsterySat navParking sensorsGood size door pocketsCup holdersPockets for the kids to useDecent size fold down seats in boot (ie that an adult could sit in if needs be! Not like the ones in the Verso)Sliding doors12v sockets

Oh and my last car but one was a Toyota verso. I liked it very much, but it wasn't as responsive as current car and felt bigger strangely despite being smaller. Then had a honda frv which felt like it had better build quality. But was ugly.

Fuel economySpace for 3 kids and some friendsComfortable seats and ability to adjust driving position for 6ft dh and for 5 ft 5 me. Automatically retracting side mirrors (live on a busy road)

I currently drive a 10 plate ford s-max. I love it, in the main. The boot is scarily big when no kids in the pop up seats. Does mean that it looks like a complete dump because I rarely have to take things out to make space.

It drives really really well. Is a big car but has some poke - and while is. 2.2l it seems to have pretty good fuel economy. Can easily drive 350 miles to Cornwall, around Cornwall, and then some of the trip back on one tank.

We replaced our car about 18 months ago and spent a long time looking at lots of brands of cars to see what to go for. At the time we had just one 6 month old. We now have a second on the way and this was within our thoughts when we bought the new car - how will it work with two little ones. The things we looked for were:-- When a car seat is in place in the back seats how much room is there for the people in the front? We are both quite tall and this doscounted several cars for us as we could not get comfortable positions in the front when the car seat was properly in place as the front seats were forced forward too far.- How well does our buggy fit in the boot and what space remains for other luggage/shopping etc?- Visibility from the driver's seat all round - several cars we tried had large areas at the very front of the front doors that caused visbility problems and roundabouts would be problematic.- Drivers comfort. I suffer from back problems so those cars that passed the first three tests we took for extended test drives to see how my back felt once I was able to fully adjust the seat. Was I still comfortable after half an hour?- Road noise from the car when driving on a motorway? We found some cars were too noisy on a motorway and made even normal conversation quite difficult.

Once we'd got past all of that we then looked at the specs of the car, as by this time we had narrowed down the make and model and then it was about which specific version of each model and what it offered for the price. Things like cruise control for long journeys; petrol or diesel; engine efficiency; insurance group.

As you can see for us the most important aspects were space and layout and then the spec of the car. Some hybrids had to be discounted as the boot space was taken up by the battery and with small children you need a boot that can fit the kitchen sink!!

I wanted a Toyota Avensis having hired one but they were beyond my budget! So, what I look for in a car;

Reliability - warranty deals are always welcomeSafety - features to protect those in the back (esp my baby) as well as the adults up front inc IsofixFuel Economy - protecting my bank balance and the environment are of equal importanceAdjustable drivers seat and steering wheel - I am only 5'2" I need things to be able to change between me and my fianceBig boot- Somewhere to put the buggy and goodness knows what else when we go awayHeated seat - great for easing an aching back!Parking assist - for my fiance, not me honest, he is a newish driver!

And finally, I want it to look good, have a great entertainment system be a price I can afford and drive well too!!

Good boot spaceRoof rails for my roof boxWould be nice if I could get 3 car seats in the backSliding doors, a little extra headroom for getting kids in their carseats.Air con, electric windows, Rear parking sensors which are accurately configured (I LOVE mine!)short bonnet (so I don't crunch it) and a flattish back (similar reasons)Not a giant tank - a sensible sizenot a van - cars look better and drive bettersensible mileage.Middle size engine. I don't want a 1.1 and I don't want a 2L. 1.4-1.6 please.Oh, and I want it all for a good price!

I'd look for:Seats which are high enough to be able to slide onto them, preferably leather.Seats which are easily adjustable up/down, forwards/backwards.Enormous boot.Very good all round visibility.Very efficient demisters all roundAir con/climate control.Definitely automatic and a diesel engineGood sound system/speakers and built in sat navLots of storage spaceTinted rear windowsUSBs, charging points in the rearfront and rear parking sensorsFive doorsCapable of towing a caravan!

I look for cheap car tax & insurance, reliable, reasonably fuel efficient and enough boot space for us to take our camping gear. I also look for the car to be comfortable for me to drive - I'm short and like to sit quite upright when driving and I find some cars don't adjust enough for me (my ideal car would allow us to save driver profiles for the driver's seat so that we didn't have to adjust the seat manually every time).

There's not many optional extras I would look for but I do love our heated windscreen.